Core Memory
by theLonelystart
Summary: Fear and Disgust make a core memory together after Riley wakes up with a spider in her bed. Simple enough...until the incident awakens certain feelings they have for each other.


Disgust tossed over in bed for the third time that morning, half the covers were strewn onto the floor and her pillow was dangling off the edge of the mattress. She drew her knees to her chest and groped around for the blanket, a draft raising goosebumps on her skin, but it quickly became clear that she'd kicked that off the bed as well. She buried her face into the soft bulk of her pillow and let out a long sigh before sluggishly dragging one of her legs off the edge.

She'd been restlessly laying around in bed for a half hour now and she definitely wasn't going to fall asleep anytime soon. Especially not after the dream she had last night.

After rubbing the sleep from her eyes and throwing on her usual garb, Disgust began to pad down the ramp. She peered past the railing and saw Fear leaning back in a swivel chair, sipping a mug of coffee and groaning at the screen.

Contrary to his usual neurotic attitude, Fear was relatively tranquil early in the morning. He engaged in easy conversation, which she supposed was impressive for anyone given her snarky attitude, and…well, it was nice being able to spend time with just him.

"Hey," she said.

Fear greeted her with a tired smile, noticing the uncharacteristically disheveled appearance of her hair. "You look…uh…"

Disgust ran her fingers through her tousled green locks and sighed. "Yeah, I know. I had the stupid broccoli dream again." She shot him a warning look when he smirked teasingly. Then she gestured toward the screen. "What about you?"

"No nightmares," he said brightly. "I mean, nothing special but, no nightmares."

"Lucky you," she murmured.

Fear frowned apologetically. "Oh, right…sorry."

Disgust waved dismissively and flashed him a lopsided smile as Riley's eyes fluttered open. "At least _your_ nightmares are over. Dream Duty's the worst."

Fear nodded, opening his mouth to respond when he spotted something vaguely familiar creeping towards him out the corner of his eye. He shrieked, eyes nearly bugging out of his head as the creature steadily crawled towards the screen. "S-s-s-s…sp-spider! THERE'S A SPIDER IN OUR BED!"

"Oh my god! Kill it!" she squeaked.

"I don't want to touch it!"

Disgust clapped a hand to her mouth. Trying not to gag, she threw a hand out to smack a button in front of her.

His hand overlapped hers and the console illuminated a faint green and purple. Riley immediately propelled herself out of bed, reached for the library book on her end table, and-

"Eugh," Disgust grimaced. "We're never sleeping in this bed again."

"I second that," Fear said with a relieved laugh.

Out of their peripheral vision, a vibrant light burst forth from the wall and a green and purple core memory rolled into view, swiftly speeding down the track, and lodging itself into the core memory chamber. The first of its kind.

Their eyes eventually drifted back to their hands which were still resting atop each other, neither party attempting to pull away.

Fear chewed the inside of his lip, eyes hesitantly gazing into hers as conflicting thoughts and emotions warred within his mind. He'd known how he felt about her since the day she'd appeared in Headquarters, looking more put together than the rest of them combined. She'd been gorgeous and sharp witted and smart…but it was hard to tell if the feeling was mutual. It wasn't easy to read her…she wasn't as easily readable as he was. And maybe that's why he liked her.

"Is that a new core memory?" Joy gasped from outside the bedroom.

Disgust and Fear instantly separated, now glancing at each other awkwardly from opposite sides of the console.

Joy hurriedly descended down the ramp before bounding up to join them. "How did you guys do that? Riley's never made a core memory this early in the morning before!"

Fear was still trying to pull himself together, butterflies still soaring madly in his gut. "Uh…we- a spider. There-"

"We killed a spider with a book," Disgust sighed.

Joy scrunched up her nose and regarded the two with an uneasy smile. "At least it's gone now."

"Gone all over the cover of 'The Hunger Games'," Disgust muttered offhandedly.

Joy suddenly leapt excitedly. "Ooh! That reminds me of the sleepover we got invited to. What day was it again? Friday or Saturday?" She waited for a response. "Guys?" Her cobalt eyes darted back and forth between the two emotions. Then she quirked a slender eyebrow.

Why was he staring at her like that?

* * *

The passing days after made it terribly difficult for Fear to suppress the complicated emotions that arose every time they were near one another. She didn't talk to him and he failed to string together coherent sentences when she was around. It was even worse when one of the others would question their lack of interaction…

"Did you two having a falling out or something?" Anger had grunted, arms stiffly folded in front of him as he openly scrutinized his friend.

"Of course not," Fear shrugged, failing to capture the nonchalant attitude he'd been aiming to achieve. Disgust was good at nonchalance.

Anger sighed and gave it another try. Dropping his arms to his sides and softening his features, he said," Fear, I understand your…apprehension to speak to me…but we're friends. No matter _how_ much I lose my temper. What's going on?"

Fear _had_ been pleasantly surprised to see this gentler side of him, but he couldn't convince himself to spill his secret. "Nothing…nothing's going on."

His response was a deep frown and an unintelligible grumble.

Anger _definitely_ hadn't bought it, but he also hadn't bothered to interrogate him any further, which was more than he could say for Sadness.

She'd been gravely convinced that Fear and Disgust were having a serious stunt in their relationship and that if they didn't 'fix' it now, they never would. The whole incident ended up being heavily melodramatic, but perhaps she wasn't completely off.

* * *

It was Fear who finally confronted Disgust about their core memory incident. He'd found her in the middle of her early morning make up application routine and he'd been on the verge of turning back around. He still couldn't figure out if rejection would hurt more than holding it all in, but he knew that he'd have to be brave to uncover the answers. "Hey."

Disgust greeted him with a crooked smile. "Hey genius. What's going on?"

"I'm uh…I'm here about the core memory," Fear said, trying not to wring his hands out of anxiousness.

She eyed him warily. "What about it?"

"We have a lot to talk about."

"We really don't."

Fear understood her reluctance, but he couldn't live like this forever. "We haven't spoken to each other since the incident and…I just need to know if you're avoiding me for the same reason I've been avoiding you."

Disgust could feel her insides churning and twisting. Every emotion and thought she had was clashing and she felt her gaze drift from his face to the floor. She hated not being in control. She hated that he made her feel like she was standing at the edge of a cliff. She didn't want to get hurt, especially not by him.

Fear exhaled gently and forced himself to persevere. He reached out and tenderly took her smaller hands in his own, and when he felt her tremble, he knew she was just as afraid as he was. "I just feel like…maybe…maybe there's-"

"What?"

"There's more between us than friendship," Fear concluded softly, his confidence wavering the longer she remained silent. He knew she was just as unsure as he was, and that her indecisiveness and lack of response was normal, but the suspense still made his heart race.

"Yeah, I-I think...er...that would explain all the weird symptoms I've been having," Disgust admitted jokingly, flashing him a small smile. "But...I've still been struggling with the fact that...well…"

He quickly adopted the same smirk she always gave him when he was acting nervous, "You've sunk to Riley's level?"

She eagerly returned it. "No. Just struggling with the fact that I fell for a total geek. I mean, I could've easily gone for a tough guy like Anger."

Fear chuckled, beaming so brightly he could've put Joy out of business. "Too late for that."

Disgust felt her lips pull into a lopsided smile. "I guess so."

Fear felt his heart leap. He'd never found her more beautiful or endearing than he did now, and in that moment, he knew he wanted to make her smile like this for the rest of his days. Hesitantly, he leaned forward, bending over slightly to compensate for her height as she stood on her tiptoes and drew closer to-

" _Triple Dent gum will make you smile!"_

Disgust scowled at the golden projection before grabbing Fear by the collar," Just kiss me so we can get out of here."

* * *

 **A/N: I have no idea how this turned out and I'm still pretty new to the romance genre so I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me. Thanks for the read!**


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